This work presents the most important characteristics of a system of surveillance based on High Frequency Surface Wave Radar (HFSWR). Nowadays, the School of Electrical Engineering (Universidad Católica de Valparaiso, Chile) together with the Chilean Navy, are beginning to study the HFSWR technology in order to establish the feasibility of its application in the coast of Chile. The first stage of this study, which recently had began, focuses on the arrangement of the receiving system elements and the algorithms of digital conformation of the receiving beam (beamforming).